Disposing off the case against Jain Terapanth Acharya Mahapragya, Yuvacharya Mahashraman, Sadhwi Pramukha Kanak Prabha Ji, Office-bearers of Jain Shwetambar Terapanth Sabha and the parents of four children accepting diksha voluntarily, at Semad village of Gogunda Tehsil in Udaipur division of Rajasthan, Mr. Brajendra Kumar Jain, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Udaipur delivered his historic decision after hearing both sides of the case that Diksha granted to children in accordance to age-old Jain religious practices can not be considered as a crime according to the provisions of Juvenile court or from the point of view of any Indian law.
It is a fundamental right of each and every indian citizen (Section 25 of the Indian Constitution) to follow his religion and perform his religious activities. The judgement of the honourable judge also mentioned that the tradition of collecting food from different houses is a part and parcel of Jain religion. Certain strict codes have been specified by Bhagwan Mahavir himself in Jain scriptures for collecting food and the practice is being followed for the last 2600 years or even more. Therefore, the practice of collecting food, called 'gochari' cannot be called beggary. Calling 'gochari' by Jain sadhus as bhiksha or beggary is a gross insult to the entire Jain community.